The latest edition of The Review contains the usual range of articles about Guernsey past and present – including a portrait of the artist William Caparne by Jane Mosse, the story of a tragic plane crash in Lincolnshire which killed a promising Guernsey pilot, Bernard Guille, by his nephew Brian Le Masurier and an article on the support provided to the Society by De La Rue in its early years.

The ‘Guernsey Around the World’ feature comes from Wyoming, where David Le Conte recently witnessed the solar eclipse. There is also news of efforts to restore Saints Bay Loophole Tower, with a surprising connection to the family of Sir Donald Banks, founder of the Guernsey Society – and our Hollywood correspondent reports on the Potato Peel Fever that hit the island in April.

There is news of our recent success at the 2018 Boules Muratti against the Jersey Society – and instructions on how to receive your copy of The Review electronically.

All in addition to the usual Book Reviews, Island News and details of our forthcoming meetings in London and Guernsey.

This year marks the 75th Anniversary for the Guernsey Society – and our first edition of The Review includes details of our republication of “Guernsey Under German Rule” by Ralph Durand – the first account of the occupation published by the society in 1946. We also look forward to our celebratory lunch in September with our special guest, Sir Richard Collas, Bailiff of Guernsey and President of the Guernsey Society.

Our first Review of the year includes a broad selection of articles – including New Zealand member Bridget Bridle’s account of her long-lost sister, Bruce Parker’s story of an acclaimed Victorian Guernsey daffodil grower, Michael Paul’s account of an aeronautical American cousin and Susan Ilie’s tour of the Lost Chapels of St Sampsons.

We also include the Eisteddfod-winning entry to the Guernsey Society trophy for Local Poetry – ‘The Little Aunts’ by Sarah Conlan. Our tour of Guernsey place-names around the world arrives at Guernsey Way in Herne Hill in South-East London, and we reveal a surprising early connection between the island and the John Lewis partnership – predating the arrival of Waitrose by 160 years.

As usual, we also include a summary of the latest Island News, Society News and a selection of book reviews.

The Review is published three times a year and is sent free to members around the world.

Our Spring edition is showing off our brand new design layout – and we hope you like it.

As well as the new design, we publish results of the Survey we conducted earlier this year, and the actions being taken as a result. The most significant change, based on your feedback, is that we are now planning a series of articles on current affairs in the island, as well as the usual summary of main news stories from the last four months which appear in our Island News section.

In the first of our current affairs articles, we talk to Jonathan Le Tocq, Minister for External Affairs, about the potential impact of Brexit on the Bailiwick, and how the States will be involved in the forthcoming negotiations. He shares his interesting perspectives on the challenges and opportunities this will bring to the islands.

We also talk to John Silvester of the Little Chapel Foundation about the efforts being made to save the island’s most popular tourist attraction. This will also be the focus of our April social meeting – for more details, see our Meetings page.

Those interested in our usual range of articles on local history will not be disappointed. John McCormack takes another look at some of the peculiar features of the Castel Church, including a door to nowhere, an unusual hexagonal pillar and its Roman foundations.

There is also the second part of Stephen Foote’s article on the shipwreck of the Echo in 1884. The first part told the story of the tragedy and the impact it had on Christmas in the island. This second part looks at how the community rallied around to support the widows and children of the crew members who perished.

We are also delighted to publish the first winner of the Guernsey Society trophy for Local Poetry from this year’s Eisteddfod – Jan Hugo’s poem ‘A Bordeaux Stone’ impressed the adjudicator who said “I wish I had written that”. In May, the Society is sponsoring an event at the Guernsey Literary Festival, and there is more news about that too.

There are reviews of some of the best recent local books, including Rose-Marie Crossan’s Poverty & Welfare in Guernsey, 1560-2010, Rob Batiste’s LOOKback, and Richard Hocart’s The Country People of Guernsey and their Agriculture, 1640-1840.

In addition, we have the usual Island News section, and news of forthcoming Society meetings in London and Guernsey.

The Winter edition of The Review includes the tragic tale of the shipwreck of the sailing ship Echo in December 1884, and the effect it had on Christmas in the island. Gillian Mawson’s article on The Poetry of WW2 Evacuation, shows how exiled islanders expressed their hopes and fears in verse. Continuing on the poetry theme, we are also delighted to publish Richard Fleming’s poem La Gran’mère du Chimquière, commissioned by the BBC for National Poetry Day 2016. We also include a follow-up to the story of the Stranger family in WW1 which appeared in our Winter 2014 WW1 Centenary edition.

The book review is of the recently-published Through Spain with Wellington: The Letters of Lieutenant Peter Le Mesurier of the ‘Fighting Ninth’. This recently-discovered correspondence provides a unique record of Wellington’s campaign to drive Napoleon out of Spain written by a Guernseyman, and edited by Adrian Greenwood.

All in addition to the usual Island News and Membership News.

The Review is distributed free to members three times a year and includes a range of articles on Guernsey’s past, present and future. For more details see The Review.

A full index of articles since it began in 1945 can be found here - Index of Articles.

The Summer edition of The Review includes the second instalment of WW1 correspondence from Reginald Ollivier, serving in the trenches in France, accompanied by a biography of the Canadian Guernseyman from his granddaughter. Other articles include a history of the harbour at Les Amarreurs and news of the recent discovery (in Australia) of an illustrated postcard from a Guernsey inmate of Laufen internment camp during WW2.

We also include news of our recent win at the annual Boules Muratti against the Jersey Society and an obituary of David Godfrey, a Vice-Chairman of the Society who sadly passed away this year.

Book reviews include Jason Monaghan’s Glint of Light on Broken Glass and Rose-Marie Crossan’s The States and Secondary Education.

All in addition to the usual Island News and Membership News.

The Review is distributed free to members three times a year and includes a range of articles on Guernsey’s past, present and future. For more details see The Review.

A full index of articles since it began in 1945 can be found here - Index of Articles.

In order to mark the 950th Anniversary of the Norman Conquest, this edition includes a reprint of an article ‘Guernsey and the Norman Conquest’ by Professor John Le Patourel, written in 1966 to mark the 900th anniversary. Stephen Foote explores the story of the 1948 Channel Islands Liberation postage stamp, and its role in reviving the post-war tourist industry. We also include the first in a series of WW1 correspondence from a Canadian Guernseyman, Reginald Ollivier, serving in the trenches in France, recently deposited in the Island Archives.

This edition’s book reviews include John McCormack’s Channel Island Houses and Protest, Defiance and Resistance in the Channel Islands, German Occupation 1940-45 by Gilly Carr, Paul Saunders and Louise Wilmot.

All in addition to the usual Island News and Membership News.

The Review is distributed free to members three times a year, and includes a range of articles on Guernsey’s past, present and future. For more details see The Review.

A full index of articles since it began in 1945 can be found here - Index of Articles.

This edition contains an account of life and a death aboard one of William Le Lacheur’s ships, the Costa Rica Packet, Stuart Thompstone’s fascinating tale of how four Guernseymen played a key role in the development of Russia’s textile industry, a story of the 1941 St Pierre du Bois football team in exile who won the cup and the league in their adopted home, and Simon Went’s overview of the military importance of Guernsey over the last 2000 years.

All in addition to the usual Island News, Book Reviews and Membership News.

The Review is distributed free to members three times a year, and includes a range of articles on Guernsey’s past, present and future. For more details see The Review.

A full index of articles since it began in 1945 can be found here – Index of Articles.

The Summer 2015 edition of The Review is out now. This edition contains an account of chairman Keith Le Page’s trip to visit his Australian cousins, news from Brock University in Canada about a statue of Guernseyman Sir Isaac Brock, a recently-discovered poem about the evacuation of Alderney by E. Parry, John McCormack’s revisits the question of the Roman names for the Channel Islands, the final part of Sam Clapp’s article on Catholic priests exiled in Guernsey during the French Revolution, and Stephen Foote’s account of publishing the new G.B. Edwards biography by Edward Chaney.

All in addition to the usual Island News, Book Reviews and Membership News – including the recent win against the Jersey Society in this year’s Boules Muratti.

The Review is distributed free to members three times a year, and includes a range of articles on Guernsey’s past, present and future. For more details see The Review.

A full index of articles since it began in 1945 can be found here – Index of Articles.

The Spring 2015 edition of The Review is out now. This edition contains an article by Baroness Pitkeathley based on her recent talk to the Society in London, Dorothy Dowding’s reminiscences of working at the Guernsey Press at the time of Liberation, Geoff Falla’s account of the Guernsey ‘Meteor’ and Earthquake of 1843, the second part of Sam Clapp’s article on French Catholic priests exiled in Guernsey, an article by Stephen Foote ‘Defoe’s Guernsey Lake’, a short history of La Grande Mare, and Michael Paul’s account of an early Battlefield tour in the 1920s. There has been a flood of new books to review many with a WW2 theme: including the diaries of Lieut Desmond Mulholland and Dr Alaistair Rose, and Patricia Best’s memoirs of her experience as a child evacuee. We also review the recently-published diary of a young Englishman, Andrew Mitchell, who visited to the Channel Islands in 1866, edited by Susan Ilie and John Le Dain. All in addition to the usual Island News and Membership News. The Review is distributed free to members three times a year. For more details see The Review. A full index of articles since it began in 1945 can be found here – Index of Articles.

This month sees the distribution to members of a special WW1 Centenary Edition of The Review. This special bumper edition is 88 pages long, more than twice the normal length of The Review, and contains a range of articles marking the contribution that Guernsey made to World War I.

The first half of this issue focuses on the actions of the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry, inspired by the Battlefield Tour organised by the Society in September 2013. In addition to summarising the major actions of the RGLI, there are articles contributed by members of the tour about their relatives who took part.

It also contains accounts of Guernseymen who made a contribution to the war in a wide range of other ways, including two of our founders: Sir Donald Banks’ account of the Somme, and Air Commodore Brock’s account of his experience in the Royal Flying Corps. There are also articles on Major Weir Williams who fought in Gallipoli, and Lieut Ralph Durand, the Priaulx Librarian who started the war with the Royal Fusiliers and finished it working for MI5 in Italy.

If you would like to find out more about the RGLI, we can recommend Liz Walton’s new book on the subject, published by the Guernsey Museum to mark the centenary, a review of which is included – and if you are interested in joining our next Battlefield tour, there is an account of the 2013 experience by David Le Conte – and details of how to register for the next tour in September 2015.

This special edition is available for sale to non-members for £10 excluding postage & packing, or you could join the Society for £12 and get a copy for free!